Tiny Words on a Tiny Screen

Posted November 1, 2022

According to Wyzowl, 96% of people have watched an explainer video to learn about a product or service. That’s hardly surprising, we’ve all done it, or at least 96% of us have. Many explainer videos consist of visuals with or without background music and on-screen text providing instructions or details. But without a voiceover narrating those instructions, clients or end users can easily become frustrated.

I had a very common experience recently that highlighted this problem. I needed to fix my kitchen faucet, and after a quick Google search, I discovered that the faucet company had hundreds of videos explaining how to address various issues across a wide range of their products. Great, I quickly found the video for my specific faucet.

Next, while tapping my toes to the cheerful background music, I balanced my phone in one hand and attempted to use a screwdriver with the other to follow along with the video demonstration. The problem was that I had no idea what I was supposed to do.

Watching on my phone, the on-screen instructions were printed in such small font that I couldn’t read them. I had to put down my screwdriver, pause the video, and pinch the screen to zoom in on the text just to figure out the next step. This defeats the purpose of an explainer video, which is supposed to make the process simple and easy to follow. If it can’t do that on the first attempt, it has failed at its core goal.

The self-serving part of this story is that a simple voiceover narrating the instructions would have saved me a ton of frustration. A clear spoken guide could have conveyed the necessary steps without requiring me to squint at tiny on-screen text while trying to perform a task.

The takeaway is that while the 96% statistic is impressive, we must remember that a large majority of viewers, around 90% according to Inc.com, are watching on phone-sized screens, where text is often not user-friendly. Customers rely on these explainer videos to solve real problems, often under less-than-ideal conditions, like contorting themselves over a faucet while trying to watch a tiny screen.

Adding a voiceover, in addition to any cheerful background music, is a small but powerful way to improve a customer’s experience with explainer videos. It turns a potentially frustrating task into a smooth, guided process, delighting the customer rather than disappointing them.